Network Security Testing and Best Network Security Tools

Why Network Security Testing is Important an What are the Best Tools for Network Security:

Before proceeding with this article on Network Security Test, let me ask you something.

How many of you are really scared to make payments online using your credit or debit cards? If you fall into the Yes category then you are not an exception. I can clearly imagine and understand your concern about making online payments.

Security is a point of concern for many of us, the reason for which we worry about paying online is due to the unawareness on how secured the website is.

But as times change, things also change and now most of the websites are entirely security tested to find out the flaws before it impacts the real users.

Above is just a simple example of a website security, but in reality, security is a major concern for everyone including big enterprises, small organization, and the website owners.

In this article, I am sharing with you the details on aspects of security testing of the network.

Testers mainly test using different types of network devices and techniques to identify the flaws.

This Article also covers details about the tools along with some of the top service providers for Testing Network Security.

What should you do to Test Network Security?

Hence it is always advisable to follow the below guidelines before you start your testing:

#1) Most critical areas should be tested first – In Case of network security, areas which are exposed to the public are considered to be critical. So focus should be on firewalls, web servers, routers, switches and systems that are open to mass crowd.

#2) Up to date with Security Patches – System under test should always have the latest security patch installed in it.

#3) Good Interpretation of Testing Results – Vulnerability Testing sometimes may lead to false positive scores and at times may not be able to identify the issues beyond the capability of the tool that is being used for testing. In such cases, testers should be experienced enough to understand, analyze and take a decision on the outcome.

#4) Awareness of the Security Policies – Testers should be well versed in the security policy or the protocol that is followed. This will help in effective testing and understanding what is within and beyond the security guidelines.

#5) Tool Selection – From a wide range of tools available, make sure you select the tool that provides the features required for your testing.

List of Network Security Devices

Given below is a brief note of few Network Security Devices

Firewalls – Firewall is the protection layer which monitors the connections that can take place within a network.

VPN’s – VPN Gateways are used to establish a secure connection to the remote systems.

Anti Virus – It is used to monitor, identify and filter out all forms of malware.

URL Filtering –URL filtering will keep the end users protected by restricting them to access malicious sites.

IDS system – Intrusion detection system monitors for malicious attacks and raises alerts to the admin team.

Techniques/Approaches for Testing Network Security

#1) Network Scanning

In this technique, a port scanner is used to identify all the hosts connected to the network. Network Services are also scanned like HTTP and FTP. This finally helps in ensuring whether the ports are configured to allow only the secured network services.

#2) Vulnerability Scanning

Vulnerability Scanner helps in finding the weakness of the system or network. It provides information on the security loopholes which can be improved.

#3) Ethical Hacking

This is hacking done to identify potential threats to a system or network. This helps to identify if unauthorized access or malicious attacks are possible.

#4) Password Cracking

This method can be used to crack weak passwords. This can help in enforcing a policy with minimum password criteria which ends up in creating strong passwords and difficult to crack.

#5) Penetration Testing

Pentest is an attack done on system/network to find out Security flaws. Under Penetration Testing Technique the Servers, endpoints, web application, wireless devices, mobile devices and network devices, are all compromised to identify the vulnerability.

Why Network Security Test?

A well-tested website from the security perspective always gets the two prime benefits.

The benefits include:

Retention of Customers – If a Website is secured, users will definitely opt using it over the other websites. In the case of eCommerce websites, retention of customers results in the generation of more revenue online.

Cost Saving – A Website compliant with all the security protocol drives less legal charges later, and also the cost involved in getting the site back up after a security attack gets reduced.

Network Security Tools

Here is the best Security tool for networks:

#1) Acunetix

Acunetix Online includes a network security testing tool that detects and reports on over 50,000 known network vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.